Chapter 32
Once it became night on the day that SoYoon gave Alice her second hint, she went out to guard Alice’s house.
That night, Cheshire’s men invaded Alice’s house. When they broke Alice’s window quietly and entered, SoYoon sat watching them. As the story indicated, that was what was supposed to happen.
What she thought was strange was that they seemed to come out of the house with a sack that looked to have Alice in it. According to the original story, Alice was supposed to have gotten away and run outside, where Twins would have saved her. However much she tried to sense their presence, Twins seemed to be nowhere in the picture.
Do I remember it wrong? Was this not the place where Twins saved her?
SoYoon followed the men. They passed the neutral zone and were almost at Wonderland’s entrance. Still there was no sign of Twins. As she hesitated, the men got into the car that was waiting and disappeared.
Something is wrong. SoYoon called Baby immediately.
“Wait...Ah, I said, wait! White Rabbit? Hello?”
“I’m sorry I’m calling so late. Cheshire kidnapped Alice. Tell me where he lives in Outhouse.”
Cheshire was sure to have more than one card up his sleeves and so wouldn’t act rashly. Alice would be safe.
Baby messaged her the address and map. Baby knew seven locations. Excluding locales out of the country or far away, it left four possible places. She asked Baby to let her know if there was any way to pinpoint the site, and she headed toward the closest spot.
The first place was an apartment 20 minutes away from Wonderland’s entrance. SoYoon saw the security around the building and gave up going through the front door. She circled and found a small window. She took off the glass carefully and shoved in her head. It was a little tight for her shoulders, but other than that, it was a piece of cake.
She entered the hallway of the building and went up to the fifth floor. It was empty. She hurriedly exited the apartment and headed to the next location.
As SoYoon wandered around Outhouse trying to save Alice, Alice was trapped in a horrific position involving three people: she was stuck in Cheshire’s experiment.
Cheshire had no intention of causing harm to the one person in the world with healing powers. He was hoping to help their relationship through dialogue. According to intel, she had wandered into Wonderland after losing her parents. He thought he could use this to his advantage.
The fault in his plan was that Alice was already wary of him and that her parents’ deaths didn’t hold much meaning to her.
However much he tried to get information about her powers, she refused to answer. Cheshire’s patience was wearing thin, and he decided on a different route. His weapon of choice was the claw. He placed it over his hand and cut through the back of another kidnapped man. Then he shoved the claw right up to Alice’s nose and laughed.
“You must be sadly mistaken, but if you didn’t have healing powers, I would have no reason to keep you alive. If you don’t want to die, do as I tell you.”
Alice had no choice but to abide. She placed her hands over the man’s back. The light from her hands traveled to his skin, and the long scratches started to heal. Cheshire’s gray eyes sparkled in surprise.
“I had been doubtful, but it is amazing.”
After complimenting her, he stepped on the man’s knee and twisted it. The man’s screams echoed around the small room.
“Heal him,” Cheshire told her. Alice, trembling, put her hands to the man’s knee. Once the light from her hands hit him, the grotesquely twisted knee went back to its normal position.
When the knee healed, Cheshire took out a small ax and chopped off the man’s fingers.
“Heal him.”
Alice’s healing powers were unable to regenerate the man’s dismembered fingers. Cheshire checked the rest of his fingers, then chopped a different finger.
He stuck the finger in place and commanded, “Heal him.”
The finger healed.
The man fainted. Finally, Cheshire stabbed the man’s heart and checked to see if she could heal a man on the brink of death. He called in his men.
“Get rid of him. And bring in the second one.”
Alice knew that getting rid of him was not just dumping him anywhere. The man was lifted away, and the next person who came in was a young boy coughing with a cold. At the command “Heal him,” Alice trembled and did as she was told.
Next came a person with a chronic illness, a person with a scar from a wound from long ago, a person missing a kidney, and assorted people who needed help. They were tested against Alice’s powers.
Even after healing all those people, Alice didn’t seem to be facing any physical hardship. Her skills were nothing short of a miracle. Cheshire smiled and lifted Alice’s face.
“Now, the final one.”
Alice trembled at his frightening tone. Cheshire patted her shoulders reassuringly.
“It’s not such a difficult task. We will just test if your skills work on you.”
“No, no! Go away! Ahhhh!”
Alice threw him off and stumbled backward, but there was nowhere to run in the small room. He caught her easily. Cheshire twisted her arm to control her.
“Please...Please, I beg you...”
“This is why I don’t like stupid people. If you’d just answered when I asked nicely, we wouldn’t have to go through all this trouble.”
Cheshire pulled out a knife. He warned her that if she moved, she would lose her fingers. Alice tried to stop her body from trembling. However, her fear-filled body wouldn’t listen to her.
Am I going to die like that person? This nonsense is all because of that girl. Alice wanted to kill Alice Liddell. She felt a presence on her hand. No, I’m scared. Please, someone save me—Mom, Dad, Heart, March, White Rabbit.
Like a miracle, the window broke open.
***
When SoYoon came out of the second location not finding Alice, she got a message from Baby. She hurriedly headed to the fourth place. Cheshire trying to kill Alice was a narrative that happened after the middle half of the book. She was sure Alice would be safe. She persuaded her of this fact and pressed hard on the accelerator.
The fourth location was a downtown office building. It was past 3:00 a.m., so even the overnight workers were gone for the day, and not a single person was inside. SoYoon sensed that the fourth floor, however, was dense with people and so quickly gave up trying to enter through the door or window.
She climbed up the building wall, checked the safety of the gutter drain, and placed her feet on top of it. Step by step, she carefully climbed. Holding on to the gutter, she scuttled sideways to look inside.
SoYoon found Alice in the sixth room she checked. Cheshire had a knife pointed at Alice’s back. SoYoon threw her body into the window and charged inside.
The first task upon barging into the room was to separate Cheshire and Alice. She kicked the knife out of Cheshire’s hand, away from Alice. Cheshire flew hard into the wall from the whiplike kick that came at him so fast, he didn’t even have time to react.
She followed behind him and was about to knock him unconscious when Alice stopped her. Alice grabbed SoYoon’s shoulder hard and cried.
“I was scared...”
SoYoon didn’t have the heart to tell the trembling Alice to let her go. As she was patting Alice on the back, Cheshire came to his senses and called in his men through the open door. SoYoon talked to Alice in her most sympathetic voice so that she wouldn’t get scared.
“Alice, go hide under that table and close your ears. It will only take a little while.”
Alice looked at SoYoon, Cheshire, and the oncoming hoard of men and nodded. SoYoon pushed Alice toward the table and pulled out her sword.
SoYoon’s sword was like a Chinese chef’s knife: it was perfect for cutting and slicing with precision.
She sliced the oncoming men from their shoulders to their waists. Using the weight of her swing, she cut the backs of the men behind her. She avoided the falling men by slightly turning her body while another man tried to attack her shoulder. His face exploded in a sea of blood. In his moment of distraction, she cut his leg, and as he fell, she chopped off his head. The head rolled toward Cheshire’s feet.
Cheshire told his men to retreat. Other than the slight cuts she got from breaking into a window, SoYoon was left unharmed—contrary to Cheshire’s men. He didn’t want to admit it, but fighting like this would put himself in danger.
Cheshire looked over to where Alice was hiding. He could kidnap her again anytime, but he only had one life to spare. Admitting defeat was always bitter. He concealed his resentment, disguised it as anger, and yelled.
“Stop! Everyone retreat.”
As Cheshire’s men retreated, SoYoon put down her weapon. He took care not to have corpses flying in Alice’s direction, but she couldn’t avoid the blood splatter. Alice had screamed every time she saw blood, and SoYoon thought it better not to continue fighting.